The Guardian (The Gifted Book 1)

by C. L. McCourt

  She took a deep breath and thought about communicating with the energy, as if it had free will and could understand what she needed. Rhea asked the tiny bits of energy that she was feeling to paint their own picture, making the veil paint itself to look like her surroundings.

  It was Daen's voice she heard next. "You've done it."

  Rhea opened her eyes to see everyone's expression; they were looking past her, around her, but not really at her. She slowly raised her hand and waved but no one noticed.

  "Honey, are you still here?" Christine asked.

  Rhea reached out to the bits of energy and released them. She assumed she suddenly reappeared, because her mom became noticeably more relaxed.

  Randell was still at the window but was watching out of the corner of his eye. "That's incredible."

  "Go show your father." Christine acted as if Rhea had just put on a pretty new dress.

  Rhea stood and reached out to the energy, asking for its help again. "Am I gone?"

  "Yep." Daen was smiling, as if he were proud of her.

  She walked through the dining room, past Ander, and into the living room. "Dad? Can you see me?"

  Brian turned around and looked for the source of her voice but couldn't find it. "Rhea?"

  Rhea released the energy and appeared in front of him. It had worked; she'd walked from the kitchen, through the dining room, to the living room and the energy had kept up with her surroundings, changing as it needed to. Rhea had no idea how it worked but was thankful it did.

  He gasped, "Rhea! Jeez, you almost gave me a heart attack." He put his hand on his chest and took a deep breath. "That was something. Although I don't understand what's happening, I'm proud of you." He wrapped his arms around her.

  "Thanks." On the way back to the kitchen, Rhea showed Ander her new trick. As she entered the kitchen, she noticed that Daen and Randell had traded places.

  "Now that I seem to have the hang of invisibility, let's plan how we're going to catch these guys."

  ~~~

  By the time Rhea was done learning how to cloak herself in the veil, the sun had set and the moon was rising in the sky. She looked out the window. "It's almost time to leave. Do we know if we can go through?"

  Daen nodded. "Good question. The living room has only a small opening, but it should work for a test. It normally appears in the corner by the trunk on the front wall." Daen stood, "Let's check it out."

  Rhea followed Daen into the living room, where her parents were keeping watch. "Mom, can you turn off that light?"

  Christine flipped the switch and the room went dark except for the light filtering in from the moon's glow. Daen and Rhea looked into the shadow. They could see water and what looked like a tree.

  Ander stepped into the living room from the dining room to see what they were doing.

  Rhea pulled back from the shadow and looked at Daen and Ander. "Is there an island in Hondau Lake?"

  Daen nodded, "A small one."

  Rhea nodded. "Ah."

  Daen watched the image of Luxatra on the side of the trunk but didn't approach.

  "Are you going to try?" Why wasn't Daen jumping at the chance to test the opening?

  Daen hesitated. He'd tried so many times over the years that he couldn't bear to be disappointed again. He looked at Rhea's puzzled expression and realized if she could go through, then maybe, just maybe, he could too. "You try first."

  Rhea wanted to question his reluctance but decided against it, remembering his confession about the final requirement for passing through the veil. "Okay." Rhea knelt in front of the shadow and reached out to put her hand in it. She whispered to herself, "I am Terrwyn Gaulette, please let me cross."

  Everyone was motionless as she extended her arm. At first she thought her hand was going to touch the trunk, but at the last second, the trunk dissolved and her hand appeared to pass through it. She didn't know what she'd expected but it wasn't that. She pulled her hand back as if something had reached out to grab her.

  "What happened? Are you okay?" Christine stepped towards her, ready to render aid.

  Rhea felt silly at her overreaction. "It’s okay, Mom, I'm fine."

  Christine stopped and watched as Rhea extended her hand into the shadow again. This time Rhea didn't pull it back as the trunk lost its shape. She closed her eyes and concentrated on what her hand was feeling. It wasn't air or water or anything solid but there was definitely something there.

  Her hand started to tingle. The sensation was familiar, but she was unsure why. An image flashed through her mind; an image of the cavern and the silver-blue mass she'd seen that day in the coffee shop, and she knew what she was feeling. It was the veil between the worlds. It was the Libraim.

  Rhea leaned forward further and felt hands grip her waist, not restraining her but holding her. She leaned forward a little more and her hand was through. She could feel the cool moist air of Luxatra. The sensation was almost overwhelming, the energy that she could sense from the other side ... she didn't want to pull her hand back.

  She opened her eyes to find everyone staring at her in anticipation of a report.

  "Well?" Brian looked like a little kid, anxious to know what Rhea felt.

  Rhea couldn't help but smile at him. "It's incredible." She pulled her hand back and sat back on her heels. "At first I didn't know what I was feeling, and as if something read my thoughts, I got an image in my head. My hand was in the veil. When I pushed further, I passed through the veil and felt the air on the other side." She studied her hand before continuing, "The energy seemed to sink into my skin; I could feel it flow through me."

  Daen knelt next to Rhea and looked into the shadow.

  Rhea encouraged him. "Go ahead, try it."

  Daen looked at her and then the shadow, a look of disbelief on his face, but before Rhea could encourage him again, he extended his hand and then his arm into the shadow. She watched as it disappeared into the side of the trunk. He shuddered slightly, but the look on his face told the real story.

  He closed his eyes and whispered, "I've missed you."

  Rhea wasn't sure if it was the Libraim he was talking to or Luxatra, but she knew it was none of her business. She stood and stepped back, allowing him this moment.

  Brian and Christine returned to the window to see if the car and its driver were still there. Randell and Rhea went to the kitchen to check on the guy out back. Ander returned to the side window, and Pam went to the basement.

  49

  Plan

  Daen reluctantly pulled his hand free of the shadow. He was going home after all these years. His heart raced as he sat looking into the shadow in front him, but voices in the kitchen reminded him there was more to do before he was truly home.

  Daen stood and turned towards the kitchen, where Rhea and Randell waited for him. He felt content and relaxed.

  Randell couldn't help but smile. "You look happy."

  Rhea had seen that look before on the faces of students on campus. It typically meant they'd been partying with a substance not found at the grocery store.

  Daen said, "It's been more than twenty years since I've felt my world and been connected to the Libraim. Just knowing I'll be there soon gives me peace for the first time in a long time."

  Rhea couldn't help feel a twinge of guilt again. It was her fault he was here, away from his home, away from those who were special to him. "I'm sorry."

  His eyebrows scrunched together. "There's nothing for you to feel sorry about."

  "If I hadn't been sent here, you wouldn't have been sent here. I feel responsible."

  Daen shook his head. "Don't. It's not your fault." His thoughts returned to his conversation with Randell regarding Rhea's gifts. He looked at Rhea and couldn't help but believe that something big was happening, for someone to be as gifted as she and for the Libraim to feel she needed help from a guardian. When he thought about it, it was her life that would never be the same. It was her he felt sorry for.

  "Daen?" Rhea was starti
ng to worry. His expression had gone from contentment to concern after he looked at her.

  Daen shook his head. "It's nothing. I'm fine."

  "Good, because I have a question about getting the trackers into Luxatra. Remember the four conditions that have to be true for a Luxatran to pass from this world back to Luxatra? Wouldn't the tracker have to want to go through?"

  Daen grinned. "I think I can convince them they want to go through."

  Daen's confidence in his last statement made Rhea a little uneasy but she didn't say anything. She would wait and see what Daen had in mind. "Okay. My next question has to do with where we'll push them through. What if they can't swim? You and Ander talked about pushing them through into the water. If they can't swim, won't that be killing them?"

  Part of Daen didn't want to care. They'd kidnapped Randell, and he had no doubt they would have killed him once they had Rhea. Daen wasn't feeling merciful at the moment. "If they can't swim, yes, I suppose they might drown."

  Rhea's face expressed her anguish. Killing someone just wasn't something she could do, knowingly. "Can we push them through to the island? Strand them for a while?"

  Ander stepped into the entrance of the kitchen, having overheard her question. "In order for that to work, we would need to make the shadow larger somehow."

  Daen considered Ander's concern. "Making the shadow bigger shouldn't be too hard with the sheets of plywood you have in the garage." He turned to Rhea. "For you, we'll pass them through to the island."

  Rhea got the message in the way he said it. He was making a concession for her, but she knew that deep down he was reluctant to make it.

  Daen continued, "Now, all we need is a way to get them in the house."

  Rhea pushed her concerns to the side. She'd gotten her way and she wasn't going to push it. Besides, she had an idea and was anxious to share it. "I know how we can do that. Now that I can become invisible, I can sneak up behind the one in the back and bonk him on the head, and then you and Randell can carry him into the house."

  Christine shook her head. "You'd likely just tick them off, or worse, kill him by hitting him too hard."

  Rhea chewed her lower lip, trying to think of an alternative. "I could hold him at sword point. I'm getting pretty good at using a sword."

  Randell started to grin. "I have an idea, but it assumes you can do a little more with your invisibility trick."

  "What do you need me to do?"

  "If I were to stand close to you, could you hide me as well?"

  Rhea thought about it for a moment. "Maybe. Let's try. Someone tell me if it works." Randell stood next to Rhea. All she had to do was make the veil larger; or at least she hoped that was all it would take. She closed her eyes and started to concentrate.

  A moment later Pam let them know they had disappeared. "Try walking."

  "Okay, watch everything; make sure we don't show around the edges." Rhea and Randell each wrapped an arm around the other and took a step forward to leave the kitchen.

  They didn't hear anything at first, but then Pam commented, "I see Randell's hand every now and then. Are you swinging your arm?"

  Rhea looked at Randell and he cringed. "Yes, he was." She gave him a wink.

  "Won't happen again." He held his arm against his side and indicated that they should return to the kitchen, where Rhea ended the veil.

  Randell patted her shoulder. "Fine job. I think we have a plan. Either Daen or I will hide under your veil, and we can walk right up to the one in the back and capture him. From the size of him, I'd say it's Bestian, the mean one. We'll need to take a gag; he's likely to yell for his partner. I also have some large zip ties we can us to secure his arms."

  Daen thumbed towards the front of the house, "What about Gauvin, in the car? How will we catch him?"

  Pam was returning from the fridge with a pitcher of tea, "You'll want to disable the car so he can't take off, maybe slash a tire or something," she suggested.

  Rhea offered, "Or maybe we can let the air out quietly. We don't want him to hear anything. Then, assuming the car isn't locked, we can open the door and pull him out; he won't know what hit him."

  Pam asked, "And if the car is locked?"

  Randell offered, "We'll need to be ready to break the window, I suppose. We can take a hammer with us, or something that will break a car window."

  Randell started for the basement door, "I'll get the zip ties. Mom, could you please get a rag we can rip into strips for a couple of gags?"

  "Sure ... I’ll be right back."

  While Pam and Randell were out of the kitchen, Daen brought up another concern. "I've been running some scenarios in my head and it occurs to me that we need a way to get out of the house without them seeing."

  Rhea wasn't following his line of thought. "We'll be hidden under the veil, so what's the issue?"

  "They're watching the doors," Daen explained. "What happens when we open a door and close it and they don't see anything? They're going to know something is going on."

  "Oh, yeah, I see what you mean." Rhea and Daen stared at each other, both trying to come up with a solution.

  Rhea suddenly had the answer. "I've got it. We need the door to open for a reason. So, those of us under the veil will follow another person out. For example ..." She looked around the kitchen and spied an empty soda bottle by the door. "Randell can take the bottle to the recycling bin."

  Daen nodded, "That could work."

  Just then Randell came back into the kitchen, "What could work?"

  Daen filled him in on the plan for a distraction so he and Rhea could get outside without being detected.

  Randell nodded, "I like it but I think I should go out with her."

  "I was sent here to help her, so I go." Daen's face was stern.

  Rhea watched the tension grow. "Seriously, guys? If you both want to help, one of you can take down Bestian and the other can take down ... what's his name ... the smaller one." She shook her head and headed to the dining room. "Ander, let's work on a way to make the shadow to the island larger."

  Ander's smirk gave away the fact that he'd overheard the conversation. "I'm proud of Randell for wanting to help. For Daen, it's expected of him."

  Rhea followed him down the hall, adjacent to the kitchen, that led to the garage. His face was strained. "Are you okay?" she asked.

  Ander didn't look at Rhea. "I will be." There was a large cabinet in the garage. "Let's see if I have a large piece of wood we could use to cast a shadow."

  Rhea peeked over his shoulder and into the cabinet. It contained varying sizes of scrap wood from past projects.

  He pulled out a five-foot-by-three-foot piece of plywood and held it up. "If we stand this on the trunk, it should extend the shadow enough for them to get through."

  "Let's give it try."

  Ander and Rhea took the wood to the living room and propped it on the trunk to increase the size of its shadow. Rhea pushed her hand through the shadow toward the plywood and watched her hand disappear into the wood. "Yep, that should do it."

  50

  Capture

  Randell turned from the window when Pam entered the kitchen carrying blankets and other linens. "What are those for?"

  "The blankets are for you to take with you. Daen mentioned you'd be sleeping outside. These are rags to rip into gags." Pam lifted two pillowcases. "And these are for our captives. I was thinking you could put them over their heads; blind them, so to speak."

  Daen reached for the cases. "Not a bad idea. It should disorient them and prevent them from seeing Rhea's face if her veil comes down."

  Rhea said, "But they've already seen me."

  Daen responded, "True. But we don't know how much of your face they remember, and the king wants us to try and hide your identity."

  "Okay."

  Ander slid into a chair at the kitchen table. "Who are you going to grab first?"

  Daen and Randell looked at each other, trying to decide.

  Rhea made the decision.
"The big one ... in back." She closed her eyes and concentrated on the backyard. "He's closer now. We should hurry; he's moving towards the house."

  Daen appeared surprised. "Oh? And why is he the first one we should capture?"

  "Noise. I think it'll be noisier to grab the one out front, and it might tip off the big one ... Bestian ... to either run or come to see what's happening. I assume we don't want to take them both on at the same time."

  Randell considered her logic. "I'm okay with your plan."

  Daen conceded as well. "I'd like to go first." He looked at Randell as if to get his okay. There was no argument.

  Rhea was glad they had worked things out. She looked out the back window, "Okay, now that that's settled, I propose we approach him straight on. He's at the edge of the woods, and it's not going to matter if he can't see us because he'll hear us as soon as we step into the leaves."

  Daen nodded. "We'll go to the edge of the grass, and on the count of three we’ll run at him and subdue him. You can then help me restrain him."

  Rhea asked, "How will you subdue him?"

  "My gift allows me to ... stun by touch," explained Daen.

  Randell nodded and handed Rhea a zip tie, a gag, and a pillow case. "Sounds like a plan." He picked up the empty soda bottle. "Are you ready?"

  Rhea took a deep breath. "As ready as I'll ever be."

  Daen stepped close to Rhea and she called on the energy to help them. When Randell couldn't see them, he opened the kitchen door and left it open as he walked to the recycle bin. Daen and Rhea followed him out.

  She had assumed Randell would turn in one direction or another, but he hadn't yet. That's when she saw the bins were close to where Bestian was hiding in the woods.

  About halfway there, Daen and Rhea saw movement. Rhea took Daen's hand to warn him, but he was already stopping. Bestian was crouched and heading right at them, his eyes locked on Randell as he opened the lid of the recycle bin. Bestian slid a knife from his belt and picked up his pace. Daen prepared to jump him.